Leon Turnbull Photography

If it looks like a river, and if it acts like a river, and if it talks like a river, then it must be a river. But in this case, it is not a river. Hiking into West Cherry Creek Canyon has been at the top of my list for awhile, and this year it was a priority to make it there. I brought my son Jadon along for this journey. It was going to be epic, I just knew it would be, and it was.

We arrived at the trailhead and started hiking around 8AM. The first day would be a 12 mile hike, but elevation gain was minimal, and we had all day to do the hike, so overall it was fairly easy. However, Jadon really struggled, especially the last part of the hike. He was very tired, his feet hurt, his shoulders hurt from the pack.

The weight of his pack was only about 20 pounds, compared to the 40 I was carrying. I carried a lot of the extra weight for the two of us (food, etc.). I would have given him more weight, but he does not get much exercise normally, so I figured he would have a hard time as it was, and so I guess I was trying to be nice. I did not mind. I am glad he came with me.

It took us about 8 hours to get to West Cherry Creek Canyon and to our campsite. As we descended into the canyon, we got our first view of the upper falls. West Cherry Creek was roaring! The creek did not look crossable. Indeed, it was not a creek, it was a river. I did not have plans to cross the creek, I just wanted to camp on this side of the creek, but I was not entirely sure if we would need to cross it to view either of the two big waterfalls. West Cherry Creek Canyon is incredibly beautiful. The scenery is among the best I have ever seen in my life. I fell in love with this canyon. I did not want to leave. Ever. The canyon is flanked by two tremendous waterfalls, both of which are well over 100 ft. high. In between, the canyon is guarded by towering and majestic granite cliff walls with no exit point save the one we entered down into. The beautiful river runs through the middle of the canyon. It is absolutely stunning.

I do not think Jadon had the same emotional experience that I did. In fact, I know he did not. I tried to get him to see it. See the beautiful green pool in the river, it looks so inviting to swim, doesn’t it Jadon. Look at the beautiful sunset light on the granite cliff, Jadon. See the moon setting over the end of the valley, Jadon. See these magnificent waterfalls, Jadon. He just seemed to be more focused on the difficulty of the hiking. Well, I really tried. Hopefully, something sunk in. I really enjoyed experiencing this with my son, and I want him to come with me on more trips in the future.

For the first day, we hiked down the valley to the lower waterfall. There was a pretty good trail through the canyon, though it was difficult to follow at times. I was surprised this section was so easy going and there was a good path. Somewhere along the way, my tripod fell out of my pack. As we neared the end, I noticed it was gone. Jadon had been behind me and apparently noticed it, and walked right by it. Oh, I saw a tripod and I was going to say something, but I did not think it was yours. What????? Whose else would it be????? Well, I had to go back and fetch it. It just gave him more time to rest.

We found a terrific campsite above the falls, setup camp, had dinner, then went down to the waterfall. This was the very tricky part. Getting down to the bottom of the waterfall was just slightly crazy. The waterfall goes over a steep granite ledge. The one and only way down is to walk down the granite rock right beside the waterfall. If the rock is wet at all, forget it. You would die. That is no exaggeration. However, the rock was completely dry. It was a bit nerve wracking, but actually quite safe. We had to be careful of course, and we scooted down on our butts on the steepest parts. Once down, we had to wait about an hour for the sun to go down before I could take photos. I explored the canyon, while Jadon napped on the rocks. It was a glorious evening.

It was supposed to be down to freezing the first night, but it did not seem to get quite that cold, though it was definitely under 40 degrees. We were prepared and we were warm enough in our sleeping bags. The only problem is that my brand new inflatable pillow has a leak. I’m going to have to return it. Argh.